Food Party!

This past week we have been studying the main discourses of environmental politics. In Politics of the Earth, Dryzek describes four discourses, breaking each of them down to its main elements: problem solving, survivalism, sustainability, and green radicalism. At first, I had some difficulty understanding Dryzek’s method of categorizing the discourses but after further reading I am slowly grasping their nuances. I also received some unexpected and yet highly entertaining inspiration from the new 3D animated film “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”.

The film tells the tale of a tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean called Swallow Falls. A young, socially awkward inventor by the name of Flint Lockwood invents a device that converts water to food, making the island a tourist destination and its residence quite over weight. However, the machine malfunctions producing mutant giant food that threatens to destroy not only the town, but also much of the rest of the world. Despite protests from a greedy mayor, Flint must disarm the machine at the expense of the island’s (and his own) fame and fortune.

This seems to be an obvious criticism of the Promethean discourse. Flint’s machine seems to magically convert water into unlimited quantities of food, reflecting the Promethean belief that, with enough energy, any resource can be obtained from another. This literal raining down of resources is automatically received as an undeniable good to the islanders. When food starts to clog the streets, the islander’s launch the munchies onto “Mt. Leftovers” which is supported by a “most likely unbreakable damn”. The mayor insists upon the unchecked conversion of water into food in order to secure the tourist industry, despite warnings from Flint, his meteorologist friend, and common sense. This thinly veiled metaphor for unrelenting economic growth is presented in an extremely comical light, perhaps to demonstrate how obvious of a problem we face today. Flint’s food convertor might also be a metaphor for the Green Revolution of the 20th century. While the islanders are definitely being fed better than they were before, they are so at the expense of the environment and their own safety, similar to the effects of synthetic nitrogen, pesticides, and GMOs.

Like many other “climate disaster movies”, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” reveals the evils and potential dangers of unchecked industrial growth. However, because of its light and comical nature I feel that this movie may be especially effective at targeting a younger audience.